Galactose Tolerance Test Using a Bioassay of Galactose

Fukutome and his collaborators1)2) reported that the growth of mutabiles of E.coli was inhibited by galactose and that this phenomenon could be used as a bioassay of galactose. We intended to study the availability of such kind of bioassay for galactose tolerance test in liver function tests. If the inhibitory effect of galactose is not influenced by the coexistence of glucose, we can measure the blood level of galactose without the differentiating analysis of that from glucose (fermentation procedure). Although glucose of a concentration higher than some level reduced very much the inhibitory effect of galactose on the growth of mutabiles, we could find the conditions where the influence of glucose could be neglected and the measurement of galactose could be performed without any fermentation procedure.